Precious first hours show Prince William's urge for privacy

Gordon Rayner, Daily Telegraph07.24.2013

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge depart The Lindo Wing with their newborn son at St Mary's Hospital on July 23, 2013 in London, England. The Duchess of Cambridge yesterday gave birth to a boy at 16.24 BST and weighing 8lb 6oz, with Prince William at her side. The baby, as yet unnamed, is third in line to the throne and becomes the Prince of Cambridge.

Related

For the nation at large, it was the most public of celebrations. Cannon firing in salute outside royal palaces, Westminster Abbey ringing its bells for three hours solid and Congratulations echoing off the walls of Buckingham Palace as it was played during the changing of the guard.

This was, after all, a moment in history; the birth of a figure who will represent Britain on the world stage perhaps into the next century.

But for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the arrival of their son was an intensely private affair.

Inside the Lindo wing of St Mary's hospital in Paddington, they were cocooned from the feverish excitement of the media and the public gathered outside.

They were also determined that the announcement of their baby's birth would be made on their terms, and that they would not be pressured into releasing the news according to broadcasters' or newspapers' schedules.

After the baby was born at 4.24pm, the Duke and Duchess told their staff they wanted to spend some private time with their son.

After the Duke made the customary calls to the Queen, the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry and the Middletons, it would be another four hours before the news was broken to the public at 8.29pm.

While they were being bombarded with requests for updates from the media, the Duke's staff maintained a stony silence throughout those four hours.

But, with newspaper deadlines fast approaching, the Duke's press secretaries, Ed Perkins and Nick Loughran, were forced to come up with a new plan of action on the hoof.

Having previously emphasized their desire to maintain the "theatre" of the birth announcement by breaking the news via a bulletin placed on an easel outside Buckingham Palace, they suddenly announced at 8pm on Monday that details of the birth would be issued instead via a press release emailed to journalists before the bulletin even left the hospital.

The move was undoubtedly approved by the Duke's private secretary, Miguel Head, who was previously his press secretary and would have been fully aware of the problems the delay was likely to cause to national newspapers.

The fact that Kensington Palace was having to make such an unexpected break with protocol at such a late stage effectively tipped off the media to the fact that the Duchess had given birth, half an hour before the confirmation came.

It meant that hundreds of people who had waited outside Buckingham Palace for the big reveal on the hottest day of the year had effectively been wasting their time.

The BBC was also left counting the cost of paying cameramen to cover 28 shifts on easel watch, which one source said had cost around pounds 13,000 of licence fee-payers' money.

Had they known how the news was going to be broken, they might not have bothered.

It must be stressed that no one, and certainly not the media, would want to deny the Duke and Duchess some time alone with their baby son.

Yet the Duke's insistence on a four-hour hiatus was undoubtedly a sign of things to come, as he seeks to keep his son's childhood as private as possible.

It follows the model that allowed him and his brother to complete their education away from prying eyes after the Prince of Wales brokered a deal with and the British media.

The Duke cherished his time at St Andrews University, where he was largely left alone, and has done his utmost to give his wife the same protection, setting up home in a Welsh farmhouse where the British press have allowed them to enjoy married life.

No British publication, for example, has carried pictures of the farmhouse, despite knowing its location, because to do so would encourage royal watchers to make it a place of pilgrimage. Although no discussions have yet taken place between the media and Kensington Palace, it is a certainty that the Duke's staff will seek talks in the coming months to ensure his son is allowed the same sort of space to grow up that he was.

The Duke will, however, have to fight a much tougher battle than his father if he wants his son to have anything approaching a "normal" life.

In the age of Twitter and Facebook, every member of the public is potentially a "citizen journalist" who may feel the urge to take pictures of Baby Cambridge and publish them online if they see the family trying to enjoy a private day out or shopping trip.

The Internet did not exist when Prince William was born, and if Lord Justice Leveson was forced to admit in his inquiry into media standards that the web was beyond control, then the Duke of Cambridge must steel himself for a long and perhaps infuriating battle to lay down his own version of the law.

There is also a global market for paparazzi pictures of royalty which the Duke and Duchess know only too well, after the Duchess was photographed topless in France last year.

The couple's legal battle with the French photographer who took those pictures, and the magazine which published them, is still making its glacial progress through the French courts, though by the time the couple took legal action the damage was already done.

Gentlemen's agreements between the Royal family and the British media have no relevance abroad, or indeed to photographers working in Britain and selling their pictures to foreign magazines.

The Duke and Duchess can only hope that if they appeal for restraint, it will have a greater, and quicker, effect than the law.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.